The Issue of the Linguistic Structure Concept in Contemporary Romanian Syntax

Abstract

While it is fundamental for the linguistic system concept to be considered as a set of stable and interdependent structural rules, it is fundamental for the linguistic structure concept to be considered as a scheme of functional relationships, because the structure rules and the relationships are structural rules and relationships only if they ensure certain functions. This means that any minimal unit of a system belongs to that system if it has a function in a scheme of relationships, and it fulfils such function only if it belongs to a proper system. The concept of relationship has been theorized and clearly defined by Ferdinand de Saussure. In modern linguistics, this is a key point because everything in a natural language is based on relationships, starting with the linguistic sign – which is the result of a relationship between a signifier and a signified.